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State to seek death penalty for Hargrove, Tipton

June 15, 2012|By Fred Petke | The Winchester Sun

Prosecutors will pursue the death penalty against a Georgetown man and his ex-girlfriend for a December home invasion and homicide of Andrew David Ingram.

Though the formal paperwork has not been finalized, Commonwealth’s Attorney David Smith has decided to pursue it against suspects Percy Hargrove, 26, of Georgetown, and Sheena Tipton, 26, of Clay City. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Charles Johnson told their attorneys and the judge Thursday in Clark Circuit Court.

Kentucky law allows for the death penalty in cases where a death occurred during the commission of another crime. Upon conviction, it allows additional possible sentences including life without the possibility of parole and the death penalty. Prosecutors are required to file written notice when they intend to seek the death penalty.

A trial date is expected to be set in September. Prosecutors said they are still waiting on DNA¿evidence to return from the lab.

Hargrove, a former Scott County football standout, is charged with murder and first-degree burglary for the Dec. 14, 2011, death of Ingram, who was Tipton’s current boyfriend. Tipton is charged with complicity for allegedly helping plan the incident and giving Hargrove a detailed floor plan of Ingram’s home on Whitney Court. The map was drawn on the back of a medical record for Tipton’s child, which was found in Hargrove’s car in Georgetown. Tipton was not in Winchester when the incident occurred.

Witnesses told police that Hargrove came to the residence around 4:30 a.m., forced his way into the home and brandished a handgun. Ingram’s roommate Lawrence Wells told police he hid in the back bedroom and heard two gunshots, and when he came out, both Hargrove and Ingram were gone.

Neighbors called the police, but officers initially found nothing. Hargrove was located around 11 a.m. on Maryland Avenue and taken for questioning. Detectives were beginning to interview him when a maintenance worker found Ingram’s body under the back porch of a neighboring house with his and Hargrove’s wallets and a .45-caliber bullet casing. A second bullet was found in a nearby house.

Police charged Tipton following interviews on two consecutive days, during which she admitted to drawing the map for Hargrove. She told police that Ingram had threatened her life, and that she gave Hargrove the map so he could find Ingram and talk to him.

A former cellmate of Tipton’s told police that she made several statements concerning the case, including that she threatened to keep Hargrove from seeing their child unless he did something about Ingram. She also made statements that she told Hargrove to dispose of the gun and not to implicate her if he was arrested.

Contact Fred Petke at fpetke@winchestersun.com.

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